An introduction to Ronnie Screwvala, the Indian entrepreneur and author of a book of lessons learned, Dream with Your Eyes Open (Rupa Publications, 2015). Screwvala’s candid prose offers inspiration to aspiring entrepreneurs everywhere. As much about failures as about successes, Dream wIth Your Eyes Open is about “it can be done,” not “I did it.” A first-generation entrepreneur and social philanthropist, Screwvala is behind UTV in India, which has since become a part of The Walt Disney Company, he has produced numerous Bollywood movies, and is the Founder Trustee of Swades Foundation (named after the film Swades starring Shahrukh Khan). Among other accolades, Screwvala has been named on Esquire’s “List of the 75 Most Influential People of the 21st Century” (September 2008), and ranked 78 among the 100 most influential people in the world on the “Time 100” (Time Magazine, 2009).

Current reads: I’ve been reading a lot of nonfiction and autobiographies this past year to see what’s out there.

What are you working on at the moment, besides book publicity?

For me this book was just a stretch objective because I wanted to write about entrepreneurship. I spent the better part of the last twenty years in the media and entertainment industry. About two and a half years back we divested UTV to The Walt Disney, Company, and then I transitioned that for about two years until I moved out of the industry in January of 2014.

Over the last year, there have been quite a few initiatives in what I think of as my next innings. In the nonprofit sphere, there’s a rather ambitious project with a large social base set in rural India. We have nurtured it for the better part of a decade, but we really scaled up in the last two years to a much bigger size, and that’s the Swades Foundation. The objective is to help provide infrastructure to villages and implement programs to increase the livelihood of people in the villages. We want to give people a sense of their own freedom, and the ability to see that they are a little more in control of their own destiny. The overarching mission is to raise a million people out of poverty and into jobs every five to six years. It’s a goal with a timeline, and that is important to me.

While everyone in India believes that we’re extremely smart and entrepreneurial, I think we have a long way to go to truly be an entrepreneurial nation, and the timing is now. We’ve got great leadership at the government level, there’s an incredible amount of optimism in the country, and the opportunities are massive (in the service sector, the manufacturing sector, things related to intellectual property, and in areas like health and education). So evangelizing entrepreneurship and starting the book are the two things I’m deeply committed to on the nonprofit side.

On the profit side, it’s taken a year for me to collect co-founders and colleagues for three projects. One is in the field of education: to build a business from the ground up like I did with UTV in media twenty years back. The second one is in digital media, and I’m envisioning something that could be described as where VICE meets BuzzFeed, but with a higher quotient of entertainment backed into that. And the third is in sports. We’ve worked on a local sport called kabbadi and taken it to an international level, and we’re doing a lot of work in football, where again we rank very low internationally.

What prompted you to write Dream with Your Eyes Open?

Having moved out of the media and entertainment industry, and meeting a lot of entrepreneurs, part of my act was to invest in and mentor those entrepreneurs. What struck me first was how different the environment was when I started out. It was almost impossible to even pronounce the word entrepreneurship then. There wasn’t much of an ecosystem for funding, so you needed to be self funded. A fair amount grew out of that period of time, and I felt responsible to encapsulate my learnings and see if I could be some form of an inspiration to others. I’ve often felt that an autobiography doesn’t do that goal justice; it just gives you an overall story. So I’ve positioned the book as a narrative of lessons learned.

I’ve noticed there’s a sharp fear of failure in the emerging markets, and as you glance through the book you’ll see that in many cases I’ve shared my trysts with failure. I communicate very strongly that you will fail — and not once, but multiple times — but that’s perfectly fine as long as you look at it as setbacks and move forward.

“You will fail — and not once, but multiple times —

but that’s perfectly fine as long as you look at it

as setbacks and move forward.”

What else do you hope readers will take away from your book?

My hope is that it will reach people at three levels. First, the fence-sitters, or the people who are in the early stages of their career trying to decide if they want to be an entrepreneur. Some of the early chapters give a sense that it can be done.

Then the book progresses to the second level when I talk about things in terms of scale, spotting trends, and then exits, for the more evolved entrepreneur. My career spanned twenty to twenty-five years, so I can talk about the start-up environment as well as more mature organizations.

Third, as a result of small focus groups I conducted, I found that the book was equally interesting to professionals. It also appealed to people who have been in their careers for ten or fifteen years and are wondering what do I do next? When is the right time, and am I the right person to take the plunge? At a very high level across the chapters, the book talks about those issues.

How did this book come together; what was your writing and editing process?

I realized very early in the game that I needed a co-writer. My aim and ambition was never to be an author, it was to write a book, as odd as that sounds. If you want to write a book, it means you want to communicate something, and a book is a good way to do it. I could make plenty of notes and write things down, but I wanted assistance bringing the right structure to the book. In my past experience, when I was doing films with Bollywood and we got stuck with plotlines, we looked to the Western market, specifically to the US, to screenwriters and stories where there was a different structure to act one and act two and things like that. I was not sure that I could co-write long-distance with someone in a different timezone, but we gave it a try.

My co-writer, Wynton Hall, came to India at the beginning of the process, and I talked and talked, and introduced him to entrepreneurs so he could get the feel of things here. He was able to give a structure, language, flow, and tonality to the book that I couldn’t have done myself. The first draft was maybe 60% Wynton putting down everything he’d heard from me, with that structure and tonality. Then we started to correct that, and by the second, third, and fourth draft I started packing in my anecdotes. There was a lot to work with, but the book never would have appeared without getting what I like to call those opening and closing sentences.

This process allowed me to think freely without the stress of getting the wording just right for every sentence. Whenever I got stuck, I had somebody much more mature in the writing process to lean on.

What did you learn from this project that surprised you?

The discipline that it needs is like anything else. I didn’t realize how cathartic it is to go back through the years and dredge things, in a good way. It gets you to reflect, and consolidate some of your learnings that you take for granted in life. When you see them again, in a new context, it’s a completely different story.

Where would you most want to live and write?

I think I was very fortunate to write in the habitat where I wrote. I don’t think I’d like to do it anywhere else. Mumbai is on the coast of India, and stares out at the Arabian Sea. Our home kind of has that feel to it, that you can stare out into the sea, or at least the study, whenever you want to. I found that very conducive to writing. Although, I also did a lot of writing on planes while I was traveling, or even making notes while Wynton and I were talking on the phone. I spent a lot of time bouncing ideas off of my family, and then writing in the mornings or late evenings.

Did you listen to anything in particular while you were writing?

No, actually, while I was writing my wife and I realized the sound system in our house wasn’t set up well for this. Sadly, it was only as I was finishing up the book that we had finally rehashed our system and could listen to music like that. So, no, there wasn’t classical music or anything else that was inspiring me to write.

How has your background with film and media influenced your writing? How did images inform the structure of the book?

Before cinema and media, it was really theater which was a hobby of mine. It gives a clarity of thought and an ability to articulate things very clearly. That was a very strong base for me, and I think my co-writer caught the tonality and the way I talked about things and was able to help me capture each anecdote and really turn it into a story. What gives the book it’s strength is the dramatization, or the fictional aspect, that makes it flow for a reader. What I wanted at every stage in the writing was for the reader to visualize what was being said.

“What I wanted at every stage in the writing

was for the reader to visualize

what was being said.”

How did you balance content with form?

When the structure first came about, the anecdotes were few and far between. It was really about getting the basic concepts of failure in place. Then, as we narrowed down the key points for each chapter, I provided stories to support each one. The anecdotes became the pillars of the book.

What do you find surprising that people ask you about your work?

Well, first, I think most people are surprised that I’ve written a book, and they assume it’s my autobiography. I say, no, actually, it’s not. I think it’s fair to say that outside of the anecdotes, it’s much more specific chapters of learning and experience.

How have your goals changed over time?

They keep getting longer. When I reach one goalpost, I move it or create a new one. As an entrepreneur, you set new goalposts constantly, sometimes you are forced to. Sometimes the goalposts can even go backwards; sometimes you have enough setbacks that you need to realign, pivot, which in itself means saying, this didn’t work out, so let me set some new goalposts. I think goalposts in themselves should not always be assumed as a forward step. If you can acknowledge that sometimes it’s a step backward to be able to move forward later on, that’s the key.

“Goalposts in themselves should not always

be assumed as a forward step. If you can acknowledge

that sometimes it’s a step backward

to be able to move forward later on, that’s the key.”

I notice that you have multiple projects you’re working on at once, does that also affect how you think about the goalposts?

I think I’ve always been restless enough that I like to multitask. But one of my lessons learned is that the more I can focus, the better the results. Part of this is also because I’ve taken a personal decision that I don’t want to run anything myself right now. I’ve spent the better part of twenty-five years operating and running organizations, and instead now I’ve put time into finding and building relationships with co-founders. It doesn’t mean I will just come in and review things; it means I know what I’m good at, what I can and can’t do well, and that will allow me to keep this breadth of projects going over the next twenty to twenty-five years.

Is there a quote about writing that motivates or inspires you?

In a field like media, where you can have very public failures, and very public successes, whether you like it or not there’s a profile attached to the business that you run. I think of one my favorite movies, Patton, and the line “All glory is fleeting,” quite a lot.

What advice would you give to aspiring entrepreneurs? Aspiring writers?

“Entrepreneurship is not an outing,

it’s a journey.”

Entrepreneurship is not an outing, it’s a journey, and you need to make a long-term commitment to it. People will ask why do seven out of ten enterprises fail? It’s all about the timing. You fail when you fail, but you haven’t failed when you keep going. There can be serious setbacks, bankruptcy or going out of business, but if you believe that your mission is to be an entrepreneur, then you will pick up and start going again. You can’t make a deal with yourself that you’re only going to do this for two or three years.

For writers, I’m not sure I can really speak to this, but give yourself timelines and deadlines. If a book takes too long to write, it can lose relevance by the time you finish it, especially in the nonfiction sphere. Ask yourself if what you’re writing will still be relevant in the future, in five years, in ten?

What’s the best advice you’ve been given?

Focus. My last twenty-five years were very much about being opportunistic, and sometimes that’s great, but sometimes it’s not. The best advice comes back to that single word for me: focus.

“Focus.”

What did you find most challenging about writing this book?

I think it really is the hard work of writing. Whether it’s late night or early morning, it’s nice to have the thoughts, but to actually put them down, word after word after word, and then go back and redraft, is quite difficult. You need a strong will and discipline to go through it.

When you’re not writing, what do you like to do?

Well, I’m usually not writing, so there’s lots going on. Writing, for me, has been all about getting this book out. If somebody had asked me a year ago am I going to write a book, my answer would have been no. If someone asks me tomorrow, am I going to write another book, my answer is no.

In that case, what do you like to do in your free time?

To be honest, this last year, all my free time has gone to the book. I know, now we’re going in circles. But otherwise, it’s hanging at home with my family.

About Ronnie Screwvala

Ronnie Screwvala’s career path is the bedrock on which his story rests. Screwvala pioneered Cable TV in India way back in the ‘80s, went on to build a diversified Media and Entertainment company, UTV, and in the process partnered with The Walt Disney Company, News Corp, and Bloomberg amongst others. After divesting the company he founded to Disney, he served as the Managing Director of Disney in India. Today in his second innings he is the Founder Trustee of Swades Foundation and onto his new businesses in Sports, Education, Digital as well as being an active Angel and Venture Investor.

Dream with Your Eyes Open shares failures and triumphs, thoughts and anecdotes in a simple narrative that could help you gain better insight and give you a fighting chance when it comes to realizing your dream in a David-versus-Goliath world.

An introduction to writer Sarah Anne Johnson, author of the new novel The Lightkeeper’s Wife (Sourcebooks, 2014). Her previous books include The Very Telling, The Art of the Author Interview, and Conversations with American Women Writers. An experienced author interviewer, Johnson shared that, “By asking the writers anything I wanted to know, I filled my writer’s toolbox so that the next time I sat down to write, I could address things that I didn’t have a way to look at before.”

Current reads: Lila by Marilyn Robinson and Song of the Shank by Jeffrey Renard Allen

What are you working on at the moment?

I’m working on a novel set on Cape Cod in 1898. The main character, Sylvanius Thrasher, lives in the marsh on the outskirts of town. Through a series of events, we learn what drove him to exile himself. When a young girl is injured, he takes his first step back into the world of people he once held dear, but things are not always what they seem. Thrasher is forced to confront his past love, his father’s condemnation, and his brother’s greed in a story that explores the deep ties of family and community.

Where spurred the idea for The Lightkeeper’s Wife?

At our local historical museum, I saw a print of Grace Darling, a lightkeeper’s daughter who was rowing into treacherous seas to rescue shipwrecked sailors. There she was in her dress and petticoats doing what was considered a man’s job. I was intrigued with Grace Darling because as a child growing up on Cape Cod I had sailed with the boys. I wanted to be acknowledged for being a real sailor, but we had no female heroes. There were ship captains and pirates, but no women for me to look up to. The image of Grace Darling resonated with me—I had sailed in stormy waters, I knew how to handle a boat—and she inspired Hannah Snow.

What was your research process like for this book?

I researched women lighthouse keepers, women at sea and any women’s maritime history I could find. I visited the Highland House Museum in Truro, MA on Cape Cod where they have rooms set up from the 19th century, and there I was able to imagine the texture of a day in the kitchen, the bedroom, or the chapel. In researching women lightkeepers and women at sea, I came across women pirates, and I was intrigued. I had to explore what would drive a woman to kill and to commit heinous crimes as part of a pirate crew. My research included extensive reading of both fiction and nonfiction, visiting museums, internet searches, and talking to local people about what they knew about life along Cape Cod’s outer coast during that time period.

What do you hope readers will take away from The Lightkeeper’s Wife?

“These characters undergo circumstances

in their lives that make them question

the average way of life and lead them to grow

into new ways of making a life.”

I hope readers will take a journey with two women that have stepped outside of their gender roles during a period in history which was very different than today. In the story, Hannah and Billy thrive in situations where others may flounder. These characters undergo circumstances in their lives that make them question the average way of life and lead them to grow into new ways of making a life. I hope that readers will expand their view of gender and gender roles. I also hope that readers feel that they have had an adventure with Hannah and Billy, that they will remember the characters even after they’ve read the book.

Where and when do you prefer to write?

I prefer to write in the morning and into the early afternoon. I write in my home office because I like to roll out of bed, have a cup of coffee, and go right to the computer while I’m still in a semi-dream state. That helps me enter the dream of the novel.

Do you listen to anything while you write?

Never. I like the quiet of working at home, though I can write with a lot going on around me.

It’s been said writers can do their work from any place, where would you most want to live and write?

I love where I live. I grew up on Cape Cod and I feel at home here. It’s still very rural, and of course, surrounded by water and all the ways of life that being by the ocean brings. My request would only be that I had more time to write.

You’ve also published many interviews with writers, so did your background as an interviewer have any influence on your fiction writing?

Yes, in fact it had quite a bit of influence on my fiction writing. As an author interviewer, I read all the books and essays by the interviewee. I read anything written about them, such as reviews and other interviews. This gave me not only a deep understanding of a writer and their work, but also a sense of the arch of a writer’s work.

Most writers, over time, get better at their craft and I learned a lot by reading through all of a writer’s work in order. I could see what they were mastering with each book. I also had the chance to ask these critically acclaimed writers how they accomplished creating deep and engaging characters, rendering place, and structuring plot, for example.

How do images inform your writing?

My books often come to me in a series of images that pull at me, and I write toward those images. For example, in The Lightkeeper’s Wife, I had the image of Hannah in the boat rising on the crest of a wave. I had the image of the lifesaving rig strung up in the barn, and I could see Blue in her scarf and pants walking along the decks of the Alice K. Once I had these images, I started writing with them in mind, knowing I was moving toward something, and as I wrote, more and more came to me.

What do you find most challenging about writing?

It’s difficult to make the time to write. You have to be really disciplined and work when you don’t want to work and when you don’t have any idea about how to proceed. I also find it challenging when I have a completed draft of the manuscript and it’s time to restructure and revise to turn the manuscript into a book. This can be the most exciting part of the process, but it requires that you hold the whole book inside you so that you can feel the connections throughout the narrative.

When you’re having trouble with a story, where do you look for inspiration?

“Look away from the main action.”

Ron Carlson said that when you have trouble sit there for twenty minutes. Don’t get up to get a cup of coffee or to check the mail. Stare at that place where you’re not sure how to proceed and within twenty minutes something will come to you. That’s a discipline I enforce with myself, and it always works. The other thing I do is look away from the main action. Writer Elizabeth Cox suggested this to me and it’s helped me a lot. (For example, when two brothers are fighting vehemently about a woman and they get to a point in the conversation where you find yourself lost, have one of the characters look out the window or into the nubs of fabric on the couch and in those moments, you will often find a point of reflection or description that allows space for the real story to interject itself.) In both examples, the key is to sit with the material. Do not leave your seat!

How have your goals as a writer changed over time?

My goals have always been to explore new material and work to develop my craft. I used to work on my craft through writing exercises and through interviews with established writers, but now I spend more time reading. I read with a pencil so that I can take notes on what the writer is achieving in a sentence or paragraph or chapter, and I relate it to some issues or task I have in my own work. I read every night. I get into bed around eight o’clock and read until eleven or twelve. Sometimes I can’t turn off the light, but I have to enforce a bedtime or I won’t be able to work the next day.

“I get into bed around eight o’clock

and read until eleven or twelve.”

Is there a quote about writing that motivates or inspires you?

Eudora Welty said, “All serious daring starts within.” I love that because it reminds me that action and scene come from within the character and in order to write well, I need to be in the hearts and minds of my characters. Everything they say, do, hear, and observe is motivated by their hearts and their minds.

What advice would you give to aspiring writers?

Read, read, read as much as you possibly can, and read with a pencil handy. Make notes and think about what the writing is accomplishing under the hood, so to speak. Also, if you can reach out to an established writer, I’d advise doing an author interview or two. This is an invaluable exercise to help you learn about craft and the creative life. It also can help you increase your literary community as you connect with an author, an editor, and a literary audience.

When you’re not writing, what do you like to do?

I’ve taken up running. I find that exercise helps me get back into my body, which is important for writers, who spend a lot of time in their heads. We need to bring body and mind to the page.

About Sarah Anne Johnson

Sarah is the author of The Lightkeeper’s Wife (Sourcebooks), The Very Telling, The Art of the Author Interview, and Conversations with American Women Writers, all published by the University Press of New England. Her interviews have appeared in The Writer’s Chronicle, Glimmertrain Stories, Provincetown Arts, and The Writer. Her fiction has appeared in Other Voices, and she is the recipient of residencies in fiction from Jentel Artists’ Residency Program and Vermont Studio Center. She has taught the Art of the Author Interview Workshop at Bennington College Writing Seminars MFA Program, Lesley University MFA Program, and at literary conferences.

An introduction to Veronica Rossi, author of the YA trilogy Under the Never Sky, Through the Ever Night, and Into the Still Blue (HarperCollins, 2014). This interview was done with the Rakestraw Books PG-14 Teen Advisory Board, whose thoughtful and fun questions spoke to the heart of Rossi’s work and delved into what life is like for a writer.

When asked about drawing from mythology or other stories and sources, Rossi made a great point about how things can be connected but still unique: “If you’re really writing something that your heart is in, and you’re working hard to be honest in your writing and not copying other ideas, then no one else can write that. It’s okay to borrow ideas, but borrow them and make them your own.”

Current reads: I read many books at once! I’m currently reading The Fifth Wave by Rick Yancey, Poison Princess by Kresley Cole, The Trident by Jason Redman, and Redeployment by Phil Klay

When did you know you wanted to be a writer?

I didn’t know until about 12 years ago. I was a painter. I would work on huge canvases and get really obsessed with my work. When I had my first son, I couldn’t do that with a baby. So, I started writing, and from the first day, I thought where has this been all of my life? I’ve also always been an avid reader.

Who are your favorite authors?

I have so many. It’s hard to choose. I read all over the place—nonfiction, classic fantasy, contemporary books. Growing up, the books that I really loved were by JRR Tolkien, CS Lewis, Judy Blume. They didn’t have YA when I was growing up, so I actually read a lot of Stephen King when I was a teenager. Lately, what I’ve read and loved has included A Falcon’s Apprentice by Robin Hall, Fan Girl, The Fault in Our Stars, Divergent.

Where did the idea for the Under the Never Sky trilogy come from?

I had a fuzzy idea at the beginning and then I kept adding to it. I knew I wanted to have a a character from a really primitive society and a character from a really advanced world. I wanted to throw those people together and see what would happen. Once I had that in place, I had to think about why those two cultures would be so divided. And then I needed a reason for why the primitive society would have remained primitive, and I kept going from there.

When writing a trilogy, what were some challenges you faced in keeping your storylines straight?

Just holding all the different ideas in my mind. I wanted each of the primary and secondary characters to have an arc—they’re learning or growing in some way throughout the story so they aren’t in the same place at the end of the book. I had five or six main characters and a lot of secondary characters, and I had a hard time keeping my secondary characters in the wings while still giving them their own story. With series or speculative fiction, there’s a lot of world-building that happens. A lot of writers will keep a “series bible” with all of the details in it to track their notes and plan ahead.

Did you know from the start that Under the Never Sky would be the first book in a series?

I wanted it to be four books, but I was told that a trilogy was the way to go. So I went with it.

How do you create your characters?

“When I create characters,

I think about what is the one thing

that they are always looking for.”

I definitely don’t write about people I know. I have to be able to be pretty ruthless with characters sometimes, and I think I would have a hard time writing in that way if it was about people who felt familiar. When I create characters, I think about what is the one thing that they are always looking for. For instance, throughout the trilogy, Aria is looking for home again, not just a physical home, but what home means—comfort, safety, peace. Once I know what they’re looking for, the personality traits kind of spring off from that.

How do you decide on character names?

I have a baby names book that I use sometimes. Some names come right to me, and others I have to fight for.

Would you say you’ve struggled more with not having enough ideas to sustain a story or having too many?

Every time I sit down to write a book, I hope I can get enough pages. As a writer, you work in word counts. A typical book for YA is between 75,000 and 90,000 words. So when I get to about 74,000 words it’s such a relief. I think I have an intuitive sense now for when I’ve got enough material to tell a big enough story, a novel-sized story.

Do you find that you write to a page number or to a completeness of story?

This comes down to writing process for me. When I’m working on a first draft, I write 1,000 words a day, or about 5 or 6 pages double-spaced. I do that until I’ve finished the story, so I write to the storyline. I write what I know, and then I go back and think and write more. I admit I will definitely go on tangents because I’m afraid I won’t make the word count, but later I often go back and cut out sections that don’t flow or fit with the story anymore. I’m totally unafraid of throwing out pages now, but there was a time when it felt really hard. If an editor wants me to lose a chapter or redo sections, now I say bring it, I can write more.

What do you do when you get stuck or blocked on something you’re writing?

That happened to me recently. I started by printing it out. I just can’t figure out what angle to take with the end. I’m afraid of it. I’m going to work on rewriting other parts of it until it all falls into place. I try to keep working where I can, and trust that my subconscious is working on the other pieces.

How does the book pitch work?

For me, I had the first book written, and I had to submit synopses for the next two. I had to put that together really quickly once a publisher was interested. It was hard, but I did it, and they actually ended up being remarkably close to what how the books turned out.

Do you think that helped your creative process?

I think that you can try to outline and plan stuff, but there’s no comparison to getting there and doing the work. Things don’t always turn out the way you think they will on the page. I follow character more than plot outline. I need to stumble around in the dark a bit to figure out the right way to go.

“I need to stumble around in the dark a bit

to figure out the right way to go.”

How much do you map out the story before writing it?

I have an idea, and then I hope I’m right. For instance, I just printed out the manuscript that I’ve been working, and I’m very sad to discover that there’s so much I want to rewrite in it. I’ve been making notes like “cut this chapter out, rewrite this scene, character isn’t driving this interaction”—but that’s writing. Writing is revising. Sometimes I’m right though; sometimes I write it, and I know that’s what needs to happen in the story.

What’s the revision process like with an editor?

I actually love revising. The first book I wrote, I revised for about a year and a half on my own, and then for another year with an editor. The second one I revised a lot more intensively, and the third book was really a pretty clean copy. I wrote it, had two revisions of it, and then I was done. Some books are tougher than others, and each editor has their own process for how they work with a writer.

Have you ever come into conflict with your editor over something you didn’t want to change?

I really trusted my editor, but it has happened. At the end of the day, the books are copyright to my name, but you also want to play ball because they’re selling the book. You have to just meet in the middle somewhere.

How heavily do your fans influence what you do with the story?

As a reader, there’s always another book. As a writer, that’s my book. It’s going to be with me for the rest of my life, so I want it to be what I want it to be. I would regret it forever if I made it what other people wanted it to be.

How do you choose the covers of the book?

You don’t get to choose. That’s really done by the publisher. For my books, they showed me the cover and said, “You like it, right?”

How has your background with art influenced your writing?

As a painter, I thought a lot about balance and composition, and I also think about that as a writer. I like to have a balance between character, action, plot, world-building. As an artist, I’m really conscious of making sure to paint pictures on the page for readers. I like to be able to really visualize what I’m reading.

“As an artist, I’m really conscious

of making sure to paint pictures

on the page for readers.”

Would you ever go back to painting?

Yeah, I would. Right now I’m really rusty, so I’d probably drive myself crazy if I tried to paint. I also have so much writing to do right now. But I miss it, and I crave it. I’ll get it around to it, but I need to make some time for it.

How does music influence your writing? What do you listen to when you work?

When I hear music that I’ve chosen for the project, it just puts me right in the mindset for what’s going on. Each book has it’s own playlist, and when I listen to the playlists they take me back to the scene or tone of the book based on the song. Music really helps me get into the world of the story.

What do you wish people would ask you about more often?

I like talking about favorite books or other influences. Part of being a creative person for me is making sure that you keep your tank full. How do you refill the creative well? It’s so important to stay excited as a creative person.

What inspires you?

Music, drawing, anything artistic.

About Veronica Rossi

Veronica Rossi is the author of post-apocalyptic fiction for young adults. Her debut novel, Under the Never Sky, is the first in a trilogy, followed by Through the Ever Night and Into the Still Blue. Foreign rights to the Under the Never Sky trilogy have sold in over twenty-five territories to date and film rights have been optioned by Warner Bros.Rossi completed undergraduate studies at UCLA and then went on to study fine art at the California College of the Arts in San Francisco. She lives in Northern California with her husband and two sons. When not writing, she enjoys reading, painting, and counting down the minutes until she can get back to making up stories about imaginary people.

An introduction to Ken LaZebnik, author of Hollywood Digs (Kelly’s Cove Press, 2014), a book of essays. LaZebnik writes for television, film, and the theater. His work includes collaborating with Garrison Keillor on Robert Altman’s last film, A Prairie Home Companion, many years of writing for hour-long television dramas, and ten plays. LaZebnik wrote the film Thomas Kinkade’s Christmas Cottage, which featured Peter O’Toole and Marcia Gay Harden, and was directed by Michael Campus. For television, he has written on series as varied as Touched By An Angel, Army Wives, When Calls TheHeart, Providence, and Star Trek: Enterprise.

Top movies: Treasure of the Sierra Madre, Bull Durham, The Sweet Smell of Success, Zoolander

Currently reading: The Last Best Kiss by Claire LaZebnik

What are you working on at the moment?

I am writing a screenplay based on a real-life incident from my hometown of Columbia, Missouri: Sterling Wyatt, the son of a friend of mine from high school, was serving in the US Army in Afghanistan, and tragically died in combat. When his body was brought home to Columbia for burial, the crazy Westboro Baptist Church announced they would picket the funeral. 5,000 local townspeople lined the streets in red shirts, forming a human shield for the family from the protestors. It was a tremendous act of community and I’m trying to do the story justice as a screenplay.

What do you hope readers will take away from Hollywood Digs?

A sense of the specific lives and struggles of those who devote their lives to making film and TV. Particularly, I hope there are some insights as to the ups and downs of writing for film and TV, both its joys and its heartaches, and the peculiar demands of the craft.

You must have had so many stories to share, how did you choose the final content for Hollywood Digs?

“Some shard of historical evidence

touched my own life, prompting me to dig deeper

into the story behind the individual.”

I tried to stay true to my basic premise, which was that some shard of historical evidence touched my own life, prompting me to dig deeper into the story behind the individual. In the case of the glorious Leigh Wiener photographs, it was the fact that my wife knows Devik Wiener, Leigh’s son, and I had the opportunity to see these photographs firsthand in the futuristic Hollywood Vault. Or I wandered into the garage sale/estate sale of writer Mel Shavelson. The decision around final content was framed by these personal encounters.

What was the research process like for Hollywood Digs?

I don’t pretend to be an historian, so real historians would probably not approve the somewhat cursory method of my research. I hope it’s clear these essays are largely personal reflections. For the research I did do, I tended to rely on personal interviews—either with the person herself (such as Kathy Zuckerman, aka “Gidget”), or the sons and daughters of the deceased, as was the case with Dick Powell’s son Norman. For the short pieces about those pictured in Samuel Goldwyn’s 80th birthday party, I did old-school library research, hunting mostly through autobiographies of iconic stars. And in one case, I relied on a real estate listing (i.e., Frank Sinatra).

Where and when do you prefer to write?

Procrastination is the key to the writing process, so I tend to move from spot to spot. Coffee shops are a favorite place, although they have to be off the beaten track (not Starbucks, but little ones like the Jump Cut Cafe in Studio City). The Studio City Library is an excellent place to write, and when all else fails I actually have an office where I do a lot of writing. It is a pleasant place, and if I can ignore the lure of the internet, I get a fair amount of writing done.

As to when—I recommend to writers that you take note of when you are most productive, and set aside that time to write. For me, and I think this comes from years of meeting deadlines on TV shows, I get very productive in the late afternoon. So I know that around 4-5:30pm I will usually be able to get a fair amount done.

Do you listen to anything while you write?

No, I prefer silence.

It’s been said writers can do their work from any place, where would you most want to live and write?

My wife and I once vacationed in Cornwall, which is gorgeous and offers wonderful walks, followed by a retreat to a pub or inn. The combination of sea air, long walks, and then a quiet countryside would be ideal.

You’ve written for movies, TV, and the stage—how does writing for those audiences differ? How has your experience with one type of writing influenced the other?

There are vast differences in writing for the three forms, although I think the film and TV audience have more in common with each other than the theatre audience does with the other two. Theatre remains my favorite, not just because the author is most in control in the theatre, but because there is also the greatest latitude for language—it’s a verbal form at heart, and the language really matters. Language (speaking of dialogue specifically) matters in film and TV, but they are essentially visual mediums and the language of the stage is paramount. I will say that writing for TV in particular has actually helped my writing for the theater: TV is all about story construction and I think before I wrote for television my play writing often didn’t pay enough attention to story construction. Now I take it very seriously in all forms and I think it has benefited my work.

“It’s a verbal form at heart,

and the language really matters.”

How do images inform your writing?

Images—visual images—are crucial to film and TV, so each piece I write tends to be informed by some central or recurring image. And in the theater, I have enjoyed in my last couple of plays the opportunity afforded by new technologies in graphic media to use images there that were previously unavailable. In On the Spectrum, we see the fantastical world of the website that a creator is designing grow and bloom in front of us, and it is very effective.

What do you find most challenging about writing?

The pull of distractions: Everything from the little necessities of daily life (walking the dog, getting hardware for the front door, buying groceries), to the responsibilities I have teaching and reading other’s work, to the very real commitment to my family, to the endless wave of emails that seem to demand a response. Another way to phrase it might be having the discipline to ignore everything else and just write.

When you’re having trouble with a story, where do you look for inspiration?

To the characters in the story. Not literally, but rather to go back to the back questions that always inform everything: What does the hero want? What is the simple emotional journey of the hero? What obstacles are in her way? Often when one gets stuck, it’s just because we have somehow lost focus on those simple questions.

How have your goals as a writer changed over time?

The goal of making money from my writing has grown proportionately as I look at college tuitions for my sons.

Is there a quote about writing that motivates or inspires you?

Muriel Rukeyser: “The universe is made of stories, not of atoms.”

What advice would you give to aspiring writers?

Simply to keep writing. There is no other way to do it. I think it helps if you write with some authenticity: Think of the thing about yourself that you would never want the world to find out, and write about that. It will probably be the most beloved piece of writing you ever do.

“Think of the thing about yourself

that you would never want

the world to find out, and write about that.”

When you’re not writing, what do you like to do?

Watch baseball—the St. Louis Cardinals, specifically.

About Ken LaZebnik

Ken LaZebnik’s work includes collaborating with Garrison Keillor on Robert Altman’s last film, A Prairie Home Companion, many years of writing for hour-long television dramas, and ten plays, two of which have won citations from The American Theatre Critics Association (ATCA). He wrote the film Thomas Kinkade’s Christmas Cottage, which featured Peter O’Toole and Marcia Gay Harden, and was directed by Michael Campus. For television, he has written on series as varied as Touched By An Angel, Army Wives, When Calls TheHeart, Providence, and Star Trek: Enterprise. During his seven-year tenure on Touched By An Angel, he wrote over twenty episodes. He wrote three PBS specials for their series “In Concert at the White House,”which were filmed in the East Room of the White House.

LaZebnik’s most recent play, On the Spectrum, was commissioned by The Mixed Blood Theatre in Minneapolis in 2011 and was voted by the ATCA as one of the three best new plays premiered outside New York City. Another of his plays about autism, Vestibular Sense, was also honored with an award from the ATCA at the Humana Festival in Louisville. His adaptation of a pioneer memoir, Rachel Calof, premiered as part of the New York International Fringe Theatre Festival in 2011, and stars Kate Fuglei as the Jewish pioneer settler.

LaZebnik has a long history of writing for Garrison Keillor’s “Prairie Home Companion”radio show, including such popular Keillor tapes as “A Visit To Mark Twain’s House.” He lives in Los Angeles with his wife, actress Kate Fuglei, and their two sons.

An introduction to Nick Bantock, author of the Griffin and Sabinebooks and a new book on creativity, The Trickster’s Hat (Perigree, 2014). In The Trickster’s Hat, Bantock shares exercises for writers and artists that explore elements of creativity such as where to begin, working from dreams and archetypes, blurring the lines between reality and fantasy, silence, the unexpected, the mysterious, and more.

I wanted produce a book that would really assist artists, writers, and anyone else who wished to expand their creativity. A book that was fun, intense, visually rich, and a powerful artistic-aphrodisiac.

What do you hope readers will take away from this book?

A newfound enthusiasm for their life, the universe, and making things!

“A newfound enthusiasm for their life,

the universe, and making things!”

Where and when do you prefer to write and make art?

Anytime. In my sleep too, if I could.

Do you listen to anything while you write?

Depends. Not when writing, but painting I’ll often listen to a shuffle of music or book discs. I like being read to.

Where would you most want to live and write?

Can’t think of anywhere I’d rather be than Victoria. As long as I get to go back to Europe once a year.

Do you have a philosophy for how and why you write?

Don’t write if you have nothing to say. Don’t fake it. Trust the process. Make yourself laugh and be as honest as you can.

How do you balance content with form? How does the structure of the book influence the story?

For me, form and content have to live together in a marriage of equality. Let one take over and you fall off the tightrope.

Much of your work, including the Griffin and Sabine books, combines art and writing, so how do images inform your writing?

The question should read both ways. Words inform images, images inform words. it is an ongoing circle.

“Words inform images,

images inform words.”

What do you find most challenging about writing? Creating art?

Trying to see things from a different angle. It’s also the easiest thing once it becomes more important than repeating a successful formula.

When you’re stuck on a piece, where do you look for inspiration?

I keep moving. I have more than one thing going. I don’t believe in being stuck. I simply move to where my enthusiasm sits, and trust that I will eventually circle back to a place where answers become obvious.

“I simply move to where

my enthusiasm sits.”

How have your goals as a writer and artist changed over time?

I no longer believe that it’s about me. As I see it, I’m just the pipe through which ‘it’ pumps. Less ego, more enjoyment and surprise.

What advice would you give to aspiring writers? Artists?

Live, and when you have something you need to express, put it down in the most honest and imaginative way you are able.

What’s the best advice you’ve been given as a writer or artist?

Don’t do it. That made me want to do it and do it bloody well!

Is there something that you wish people would ask about your work more often?

Describe the various layers in your book. e.g. Griffin and Sabine was a love story, but it was also about the balancing of intuition and logic. It was an alchemical tale and it was meant to wake up a dormant desire for the magic that comes when art, life and spirituality combine.

When you’re not writing and making art, what do you like to do?

Think for fun, play poker, watch soccer (used to play but my knees are shot), read, see movies, live for life.

About Nick Bantock

Nick Bantock is the author/artist of twenty-five books, including the Griffin and Sabinebooks, which stayed on the New York Times best seller list for two years. Bantock’s works have been translated into thirteen languages and over five million copies have been sold worldwide.

An introduction to writer and editor Lucille Lang Day. She is the author of eight poetry collections, a number of short stories and creative nonfiction pieces, and the children’s book, Chain Letter. Her latest book, Married at Fourteen, won the 2013 PEN Oakland Josephine Miles Literary Award in the category of memoir. Day holds an MA in English, an MFA in Creative Writing, an MA in Zoology, and a PhD in Science/Mathematics Education. She’s also the founder and director of a small press, Scarlet Tanager Books.

Recent top reads: Holding Silvan by Monica Wesolowska, The Water Will Hold You by Lindsey Crittenden, Searching for Mercy Street by Linda Gray Sexton, Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter, Wild by Cheryl Strayed, Dear Life by Alice Munro

I’ve just completed a poetry manuscript called Becoming an Ancestor. It’s about my ancestors, my descendants, my grandchildren, family and mortality. I just put the manuscript together in November 2013, although I’ve been working on the poems since 2003. I’m also working on a short story collection, and I have about a dozen stories so far.

What spurred you to write your memoir, Married at Fourteen?

Well, I guess I’ve always wanted to tell the story. Over the years, when I would tell people that I was married at fourteen, had my first child at fifteen, divorced at sixteen, and remarried at seventeen, then left him again at eighteen because he didn’t want me to go back to school, people would say, “Oh, you should write a book about that.” I became interested when I realized other people were drawn to the story, and also because I felt I had something to say about teen mothers and juvenile delinquents. I was a delinquent before getting married. I shoplifted, cut school, drank, and I took my father’s car with a boyfriend and ran away to Los Angeles, all when I was thirteen.

In writing this book, I wanted it to be creative nonfiction. I didn’t want to write a didactic book that summed up what I learned or what teenage mothers and juvenile delinquents could do to get their lives back on track. I wanted to show the potential for change that teen mothers and juvenile delinquents can have, to upend stereotypes that say things like juvenile delinquents become adult criminals or teen mothers have no future. In the first half of the book, I tried to capture what I was thinking and feeling between the ages of twelve and nineteen as I was having all those adventures. I wanted to show how I was growing, and ultimately changed and matured.

You have poems that touch on these same topics, are any of them included in the memoir?

I do, and they were collected in Wild One, my autobiographical poetry collection. Many also were in an early draft of my memoir, but I was advised that including a lot of poetry would make it harder to publish, and it necessitated telling some things twice when I could say more with prose. There are four poems in the published book; three of mine and one by my current husband.

What do you hope readers will take away from your memoir?

I hope that they’ll enjoy the story. I hope they’ll read my memoir as they would a novel or short stories, as creative work. I hope that people see that juvenile delinquents and teen mothers have great potential for change, the same potential as everybody else.

“Juvenile delinquents and teen mothers

have great potential for change,

the same potential as everybody else.”

Where and when do you prefer to write?

I have an office in my house where I work. When I travel, though, I tend not to try to finish anything but I usually take notes for projects. I do not have a routine for writing at the same time of day. It depends on when inspiration happens.

Where would you most want to live and write?

I like living and writing in Oakland. I like the weather here, and having my own house. A lot of writers like going to cafes, but I’ve never been into that. I’ve also never gone to writing retreats. The problem for me is that I like to have all of my books nearby. I can more easily envision writing some places now besides my own house because of the internet. I can look things up online, and I always find I want to look things up when I’m writing. When I’m writing about myself, poetry or nonfiction, I like to have access to my letters, calendars, photo albums, and things like that, which is much easier at home.

Do you listen to anything while you work?

No, I find anything distracting.

What motivates you to write?

I’m really deeply moved and engaged when I read things by other writers. I learn and see things more clearly based on what I read. The same thing happens with my own writing, I come to understand myself better. In putting it out there on paper, I’m able to communicate more deeply with other people. I think that ultimately communication is what motivates me.

“I learn and see things more clearly

based on what I read.”

When you’re stuck on a poem, where do you look for inspiration?

The inspiration to pull me out of it could come from just about anywhere. I might find inspiration for what to do with a poem from prose I’ve just read, and reading a poem by someone else can often help with writing prose. It works both ways. Getting unstuck usually necessitates reading and seeing what other writers have done. Sometimes all it takes is reading and noticing an image that speaks to me.

It’s had a big impact. In poetry, you have to get rid of the extra words and really hone it down. I think in prose, my original instinct was to be too wordy and not focus my work enough. As a result of writing poetry for a long time, now I can see the extra words in my prose. In prose, other things are important that are really important in poetry too, like images, metaphors, similes. It’s always important to have images and other elements that help people visualize things. The rhythm of the language is also critical. Definitely, I’ve become a better prose writer because of writing poetry.

How did your teaching experience in science and math influence your writing?

The ideas, images, and concepts of science have all played a really important role in my poetry. I have a whole book of science and nature poems, called Infinities. I would like to do more with these ideas in creative prose, both in fiction and nonfiction, but I haven’t done that yet, although I’ve published science journalism, research papers, and science education texts. I co-authored a book called How to Encourage Girls in Math and Science: Strategies for Parents and Educators, and I edited a fourth and fifth grade curriculum in health and biomedical science.

How do you balance content with form?

I almost always have something I want to say before I start writing, or sometimes it grows out of my writing. What’s being said is always important to me, and then finding the right form for it. Some ideas feel too big to be contained in a single poem, like the idea that juvenile delinquents and teen mothers are redeemable. It required telling a story in prose as opposed to just one poem. If there’s a particular incident or image that I want to write about, then a poem might be enough.

“What’s being said is always important to me,

and then finding the right form for it.”

Also, with poetry, there’s the question of writing in free verse or not. For me, it’s intuitive to decide which way to go. It’s a process of trial and error. Some poems of mine have gone through many different forms, with short lines, long lines, as a block prose poem, stanza breaks, no stanza breaks, staggered lines. Eventually there reaches a point where it feels like this works, this is how it’s supposed to be, and you feel happy with it. That’s when you stop. That’s when you start showing it to other people.

How have your goals as a writer changed over time?

There was a time when I was younger when I hoped to make a living as a writer. I thought of my work in science education as what I was going to do until I wrote a bestselling book. Now, I’ve totally let go of the goal of making much money as a writer, certainly I don’t expect to make enough money to support myself. I did work in the field of science and math education for over thirty years, and now I’m sixty-six years old and collecting Social Security and two pensions, so that’s how I support my writing.

What advice would you give to aspiring writers?

Read a lot. Read broadly, not just the things that you’re interested in. Read things that people recommend because you may be surprised by things that you didn’t know, or work you might not have chosen for yourself.

Don’t be afraid of rejection. I think most writers get rejected a lot, and it has to mean nothing to you. You can’t let it impact you emotionally or prevent you from going on and submitting your work elsewhere. In general, it doesn’t mean that your work is bad or that anything is wrong with it because most literary magazines get way more creative writing than they can ever dream of publishing. They have to turn down a lot of good things. It’s not just a matter of writing well to get published; it also takes a little luck. Over the years, I’ve met lots of wonderful writers who just can’t deal with submitting and getting rejected. Find a way to deal with that and get past it so you can keep working.

What’s the best advice you’ve been given as a writer?

Novelist Herbert Gold gave me some great advice concerning submissions. In the late 70s/early 80s, I had applied four times for the Joseph Henry Jackson Award and been rejected. The fifth time, Gold was very insistent that I had to apply again, and I didn’t want to. He told me, “You have to do this. You’ll never be successful if you don’t.” So, I finally did it, and I got accepted for the award on that fifth try. He also encouraged me to submit work to better magazines, and I did. I got rejected a lot still, but I also got accepted.

As an editor and a publisher, what’s your advice to writers?

Before submitting your work to a press, look at what they publish. There are definite tastes. For example, some local Bay Area presses, like Omnidawn and Kelsey Street, like experimental work, I go for more lyric poetry and narrative work, and other presses are very eclectic in their taste. You really need a sense of what the press is interested in before you send them your work.

What made you decide to start Scarlet Tanager Books?

At the time that I started it, I felt like I could do a better job than some other small presses. Right away it gave me much more respect for all small press publishers. I felt like I could do nicer covers, better production, better publicity, better proofreading, and it all turned out to be such a big job and so much work. It’s a labor of love for most small press publishers because it’s not a lucrative field. I think I have done a good job with the books that I’ve published. I’ve done the best I can to promote them and help the authors themselves to promote their books, but I don’t feel that I am doing a better job than other small presses. We’re all doing our best.

I also kept meeting people whose work I loved, and they weren’t getting published. I thought I could help send some of this work that I liked so much out there into the world.

What do you find most challenging about writing?

I find writing my first draft most challenging. Once you have the draft, editing comes more easily.

Is there a quote about writing that inspires you?

There’s a T S Eliot quote: “We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time.”

I think that writing does work that way. In revisiting one’s past, after writing about it, you understand it for the first time. I was first inspired to write poetry by the Romantics, by Shelley and Keats, and also by Emily Dickinson, and Edna St Vincent Millay. Before I started studying poetry, that was the poetry that I was familiar with and the poetry that I was trying to emulate. I started out writing all rhymed poems. After studying poetry and getting degrees in English and Creative Writing and being in many poetry workshops, I write mainly free verse now. But when I am inspired to write a sonnet or a villanelle, I know that place of doing that, and in a way I didn’t know it when I was first trying to do so at age twenty-two. I can come back to that place where I started in poetry and understand it in a way I never did before.

When you’re not writing, what do you like to do?

I like to read and I like to walk outdoors, on the beach and in the woods. I like identifying birds and trees and flowers. I find it very relaxing. I like to go to movies, museums, eat at good restaurants, spend time with friends and my grandchildren. I like to travel.

About Lucille Lang Day

Lucille Lang Day has published poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction in The Cincinnati Review,The Hudson Review, Passages North, River Oak Review, The Threepenny Review, Willow Review, and many other journals. She is the author of the children’s book, Chain Letter, and eight poetry collections, one of which received the Joseph Henry Jackson Award. Her memoir Married at Fourteen has been excerpted in many literary magazines. The founder and director of a small press, Scarlet Tanager Books, Lucille also served for seventeen years as the director of the Hall of Health, an interactive museum in Berkeley, California.

An introduction to Antoine Laurain, author of the novel The President’s Hat (Gallic, 2013; originally Le Chapeau de Mitterrand). A fifth-generation Parisian, Laurain is a journalist, screenwriter, director, antiques collector, and novelist. His previous books include Ailleurs si j’y suis, Fume et tue, and Carrefour des Nostalgies. Talking with Laurain after he arrived in the US to begin his book tour, there was an air of excitement to the uncommonly sunny San Francisco day. A certain light shown through his personality befitting of the afternoon and the thoughtful playfulness behind The President’s Hat. There was already a hint of the surreal in the atmosphere before Laurain shared a story about the cover for the French edition of the book. After, there was nothing to do but marvel at how fiction and reality mingle in unexpected ways:

“When the book was finished and my publisher was looking for a cover, of course a cover with a black hat, I had a lunch with a friend of mine who is a photographer and a journalist who was working in the 80s as well. I told him the title of my book, and he said, “You know, I’ve got it, Mitterrand’s hat.” I was taken aback.

In the 80s, he had to do some pictures of Mitterrand at a meeting in Provence. Mitterrand was talking in front of an audience, and the photographer goes into the back to smoke a cigarette. He saw the president’s limousine, and the door was open. The black hat was just on the very edge of the seat. He had the same impulse as the character in my book, and he took the hat. He has kept the hat twenty-five years, as a souvenir.

So, we had a special photo shoot with the president’s hat. I looked inside and there were the initials F.M., just like in the book. It was completely crazy. The hat materialized. It became real. I put the hat on my head for a few seconds. The book became a bestseller, and today I am in America for the book tour, so there is really some magic in the president’s hat.”

Top reads: Marcel Proust, Gustave Flaubert, John Irving, and many more.

Current reads: I’m not reading anything right now, but I will be able to read again. I have just finished my next novel, which will be published in France in March 2014. When you are in the middle of writing, it’s difficult to read other novels.

What are you working on at the moment?

Right now, I’m working on The President’s Hat tour. I have also just finished a screenplay for the French television movie version of the novel. It was very interesting to be involved in the screenplay. Some things changed from the book, of course. It was difficult to work on my own novel, but I think the public will like the movie.

I’m going to try to write a play for the theater. I think it will be a good exercise for me. I’ve been reading some French theater books now to see how it works.

Where did the idea come from for The President’s Hat?

I think the original idea is that I had lost my hat a few years ago in a café. The day after I went back to the café to get my hat—and no, no more hat. It was gone. What was interesting to me is that it means at the moment I was looking for my hat, probably someone else was wearing my hat somewhere else in the city. I don’t know who, if it’s a man or a woman, it’s a mystery.

Why did you set the story in the 1980s?

I wanted to be back in the 80s, during my childhood. I have many memories from then. It was a moment without internet, without Facebook, without mobile phones—it seems very close to us, but it’s very far away.

What do you hope readers will take away from your book?

I hope they will enjoy this book. It’s a very optimistic novel. It’s like a fairy tale, and I think we need fairy tales not only for children, but for grown-ups too. I say fairy tale, but it is not just for entertainment. It has different levels you can appreciate. There’s also a philosophical part, about the self-confidence you can possess, destiny, and the chance you have to make things happen in your life.

Why do you think fairy tales are important for adults, for everybody?

“Novels have to be better than real life.”

Novels have to be better than real life. The characters in stories have to do things that are difficult for us to do in real life, you know, things that a character in a book can really face.

How would you describe your ideal reader?

Someone who wants to have fun with the story, who is looking for a feel-good book.

Where and when do you prefer to write?

At home, in the afternoon. Not the night, it’s too difficult at night.

Do you listen to music while you work?

No, never. It’s impossible to listen to music and write. Silence is the best music.

Where would you most want to live and write?

I live in the stories of my characters.

Do you have a philosophy for how and why you write?

That’s a question for a psychoanalyst. I think I’m a writer because life is not enough.

“I think I’m a writer because

life is not enough.”

How do you balance content with form? How does the structure of the book influence the story?

In The President’s Hat, the structure was very difficult for me. It seems very fluid, easy for the reader, but it was challenging. It was difficult to find a good end for the book. It’s important to have structure in a novel.

What do you find most challenging about writing?

To find a good ending. To make the characters feel alive. They have to be like real men and women.

When you’re stuck on a story, where do you look for new ideas?

Sometimes in my own life, or from my journalism work. Sometimes in the newspaper, or just looking around me. You can have a drink in a café and find many things just by looking around.

How has your background as a journalist influenced your fiction?

It has helped with some things. For example, in my next novel, the profession of the main character is a profession I had written a paper about previously. But mainly, it is very different from writing fiction for me.

How have your goals as a writer changed over time?

I’m not sure they have changed much. I just try to write stories for an audience. You have to have readers; if you have no readers, it’s not fun to be a writer. It’s very lonely.

What advice would you give to aspiring writers?

To be very modest. Begin with short stories. Don’t try to write a big, huge novel of 400 pages right away. It’s difficult. Just try to tell a story with a beginning, a middle, and an end.

“Just try to tell a story

with a beginning, a middle,

and an end.”

What’s the best advice you’ve been given as a writer?

I’d like to have advice, but nobody has really given me any. I’m a writer who arrived in the publishing world by the post office. I was completely alone at the beginning, and I started with a small publishing company.

Is there a quote about writing that motivates or inspires you?

Well, at the end of his life Billy Wilder wrote ten commandments for screenwriting, but you can read them as a writer of literature, too. He was a master of storytelling.

When you’re not writing, what do you like to do?

Drink a glass of good wine. More seriously, find a good story for a next novel.

About Antoine Laurain

Antoine Laurain was born in Paris and is a screenwriter, antiques collector, and the author of four novels. His latest, The President’s Hat, a charming fable set in the Mitterrand years, was awarded the Prix Landerneau Découvertes and the Prix Relay in 2012 and is published in English by Gallic. Read Laurain’s answers to Gallic’s Proust Questionnaire to learn a little bit more about him.

An introduction to Duff Brenna, author of nine books including The Book of Mamie, Minnesota Memoirs, and Murdering the Mom. He is a freelance writer and Professor Emeritus of English literature and creative writing at California State University, San Marcos. Brenna finds ideas for his own writing from reading, and also from talking to people: “I know how to listen when I’m with people. Stories often pop out of their mouths that I use to write my own version of what they were saying. I also use my own life.”

Top reads: War & Peace by Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy, The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky, Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, The Call of the Wild by Jack London

Current reads: Midnight Rumba, a brilliant novel about the fall of Cuba written by Eduardo Santiago.

What are you working on at the moment?

Dying by Inches, the story of a woman whose husband poisoned her over the course of an entire year. Fifteen years after her death, her sister gave me access to files about the case, which contained medical records and the woman’s journal. There wasn’t enough evidence to charge her husband until just recently. Two weeks after I finished the first draft detailing her torturous decline and death, her husband was finally arrested. He goes on trial this fall. I’ll be there to hear the evidence and the verdict. When it’s all over, I’ll be able to finish the last chapter of the book.

What do you hope readers will take away from your work?

The feeling that reading my book was worth their time and made them want to read more of my work.

Where and when do you prefer to write?

Mornings are best. I’m fresher and the cares of the day haven’t yet distracted me. I have a room in my house that is devoted exclusively to reading and writing. After decades of doing this, I’m very disciplined.

Do you listen to anything while you write?

I keep a fan on to provide white noise. It helps me concentrate.

Where would you most want to live and write?

I come from Minnesota. If I had my choice, I’d move back there, buy a house on a lake, and write. I go back every year. It’s the only place where I feel I’m home.

Do you have a philosophy for how or why you write?

“Generally, getting one page done

will lead to two.”

Write everyday if possible. Try to write at the same time as well. Write at least one page, even if it takes four hours. Generally, getting one page done will lead to two. Two will lead to three, etc. It is especially important to stick with your writing routine. If you don’t, the muse will abandon you.

How do you balance content with form? How does the structure of the book influence the story?

Usually, the story will dictate its form eventually, but first you might have to do a lot of writing that doesn’t seem to be going anywhere. Do it anyway. With time and content you’ll find the story inside all those words you put down. Throw everything else out and start over. Also, try several points of view and perhaps change past tense to present tense or vice versa. This will give you different ways of looking at the structure and style. I wrote my last book, a memoir called Murdering the Mom, in first person. When I finished, I wasn’t happy with the point of view, so I started over using second person. Finally, after several drafts, I found myself using both first person and second person depending on what each chapter needed in order makes its point. I worked on that book for nearly ten years, but it was worth the effort.

What do you find most challenging about writing?

“My greatest fear is that someday

I won’t have anything to say

and the page will remain blank.”

The challenge of a blank white page. My greatest fear is that someday I won’t have anything to say and the page will remain blank. It’s the worst nightmare I can imagine.

When you’re having trouble getting started on story, where do you look for inspiration or new ideas?

In books that others have written. I read approximately one novel a week. All good novels are brimming with ideas. I take notes on 3×5 cards and there are times when I’ll find my next story in a phrase or paragraph I wrote on a card. I also keep a journal and mine it for ideas. I know how to listen when I’m with people. Stories often pop out of their mouths that I use to write my own version of what they were saying. I also use my own life. Much of what I write has some biographical inspiration.

How have your goals as a writer changed over time?

I used to think that nothing but fame and fortune would satisfy me, but with time I’ve realized that fame and fortune will probably never happen. Now I’m just grateful for what I have. Nine books, some awards here and there, a small following, a little money coming in from royalties now and then.

Is there a quote about writing that motivates or inspires you?

“No iron can pierce the heart with such force as a period put in just the right place.” -Isaac Babel

What advice would you give to aspiring writers?

Read, read, read. Write, write, write. Don’t be afraid to imitate. Ultimately, imitation will help you find your own voice. Ask yourself this: What would I rather do with my life than become a writer? If you can think of something else you would rather do, stop writing and go do it.”

“If you can think of something else

you would rather do,

stop writing and go do it.”

What’s the best advice you’ve been given as a writer?

When I was in college, my creative writing instructor said, “I don’t know what it is, but whatever it is, you’ve got it.” No one ever said anything more important to me about my potential as a writer. I’ll never forget his remark. It’s kept me going through some really hard times when I kept getting rejections in the mail, so many rejections I lost count. I still get rejections, but they don’t bother me much. Most of what I write gets published now.

Is there something that you wish people would ask about your work more often?

I like questions that stick to the book. Why use this point of view? Why write the story in present tense or past or whatever? When your memoir was published, were you afraid of what others might think about you and your family?

When you’re not writing, what do you like to do?

I travel a lot to do readings and workshops. The only thing I don’t like about it is the traveling itself. Air travel is not what it used to be—an exciting adventure. Now it’s something be endured. If you fly you need to be Stoic.

About Duff Brenna

Duff Brenna is the author of nine books, including The Book of Mamie, which won the AWP Award for Best Novel; The Holy Book of the Beard, named “an underground classic” by The New York Times; Too Cool, a New York Times Noteworthy Book; The Altar of the Body, given the Editors Prize Favorite Book of the Year Award (South Florida Sun-Sentinel) and also received a San Diego Writers Association Award for Best Novel 2002. He is the recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts award, Milwaukee Magazine’s Best Short Story of the Year Award, and a Pushcart Prize Honorable Mention. His book Minnesota Memoirs was awarded Best Short Story Collection at the 2013 Next Generation Indie Awards in New York City. His memoir, Murdering the Mom, was a Finalist for Best Non-Fiction at the same Independent Publishers Awards. Duff’s work has been translated into six languages.

An introduction to Deanne Stillman, author ofDesert Reckoning: A Town Sheriff, A Mojave Hermit, and the Biggest Manhunt in Modern California History. Her previous books includeMustang and Twentynine Palms. Stillman is a member of the core faculty at the UC Riverside-Palm Desert Low Residency MFA Creative Writing Program. When asked how she balances content with form, Stillman shared, “Place drives everything; in my stories, the desert or the land shapes the story and the characters, and often is a character itself.”

I don’t generally talk about books in the seedling stage, but I can say this: While I was working on Mustang: TheSaga of the Wild Horse in the American West, a story came to me. It involves icons of the frontier era and I’ll be writing about them in my next book.

What spurred you to write Desert Reckoning: A Town Sheriff, A Mojave Hermit, and the Biggest Manhunt in Modern California History?

In general, this story has elements that run through all of my work—the desert and people who have no voice in our culture. There are also elements of myth and the sacred. I’ve written a couple of essays about this: one is about my work in general, and the other is about Desert Reckoning.

What do you hope readers will take away from this book?

I try not to second-guess readers and I don’t write with that question in mind. But if someone tells me that they responded to the father/son story inside this book, that makes me happy. Or if the material about animals and the role of wilderness in our lives resonates for them, that’s good too. But I’m often surprised by what readers respond to, and when I’m finished with a story, it takes on a life of its own.

“I’m often surprised by what readers respond to,

and when I’m finished with a story,

it takes on a life of its own.”

Where and when do you prefer to write?

Usually I write in the morning, when I wake up. Sometimes I write in public places, like a baseball stadium, even with all of the noise. The crack of the bat is centering, like a shofar’s call.

Do you listen to anything while you write?

I couldn’t have written Twentynine Palms without “Journey in Satchidinanda” by Alice Coltrane. I don’t remember when I listened to it, other than I was listening to it all around the writing of that book. With Mustang, I was listening to a lot of pow-wow music and cowboy songs. But a lot of other stuff as well, including hard rock and heavy metal and surf music too. Sherman Alexie said that wild horses are Jimi Hendrix or vice versa, and he was right. Desert Reckoning opens with the lyrics from “Renegade” by Styx. In a way, that song drives this book—it is about a manhunt, after all—but there are scenes of great solitude and really, it all gets down to being quiet and letting stories come through.

Where would you most want to live and write?

The desert—wide open space—is a big part of my life and work. I do a lot of my writing in it or near it. Beaches are fine too…I brake for sand, as I have often told friends.

Do you have a philosophy why you write?

See the essays linked in my earlier answer. It’s not a philosophy, I’ve been writing since I was a little girl; it’s a calling, not a choice, just like the old blues song says: “I can’t quit you, baby.”

What do you find most challenging about journalism? About writing, in general?

All of it.

How have your goals as a writer changed over time?

“It’s not so much that my goals have changed,

it’s that my writing itself has changed.”

My work has moved from comedy to tragedy over the years, and sometimes it’s a mix of both. It’s not so much that my goals have changed, it’s that my writing itself has changed, as a result of personal, geographic, and spiritual shifts that I experienced. How that happened and why is something I recently wrote about for The Rumpus.

Is there a quote about writing that motivates or inspires you?

“Play ball.”

What advice would you give to aspiring writers?

Don’t take polls and always listen to your own voice. And read, read, read.

What’s the best advice you’ve been given as a writer?

“You know best.” From my mom, referring to everything.

Is there a question you find surprising that people ask you about your work?

I’m of the nothing-surprises-me school, but why people in general seem to think writing is easy is an ongoing puzzlement. “It took ten years to write that?” is something I’m often asked. Yet everyone wants to be a writer. You never hear someone saying, “You know, I’d really like to weave rugs.”

Is there something that you wish people would ask about your work more often?

Deanne Stillman is a widely published, critically acclaimed writer. Her latest book, Desert Reckoning, based on a Rolling Stone piece, won the 2013 Spur Award for best western nonfiction, contemporary, as well as the LA PRess Club Award. It was named a Southwest Book of the Year, and praised in many publications. She is also the author of Mustang, an LA Times “best book 08″ and winner of the California Book Award silver medal for nonfiction. It’s currently under option for a film starring Wendie Malick. And she wrote the cult classic, Twentynine Palms, an LA Times “best book 01″ which Hunter Thompson called “A strange and brilliant story by an important American writer.” It’s included in college nonfiction classes around the country and was recently re-issued as an e-book. In addition, she’s a member of the core faculty at the UC Riverside-Palm Desert Low Residency MFA Creative Writing Program.